That Summer (13 page)

“I'm glad you were with me, Annie. There isn't anyone I'd rather share this day with than you.”

My throat ached. I wanted him to get into bed next to me, and hold me, and make love to me. I said, “I'm not your sister, Liam. It wouldn't be incest for you to kiss me.”

The blue eyes became troubled. “I know that, but that's not how I feel. We grew up together. Your family was my family. We're not related by birth, I know, but I can't help the way I feel, Annie. It just wouldn't feel right to have anything sexual between us.”

I took a deep breath and said calmly, “I don't feel that way about you.”

“You hero-worship me. You always have. It's not a grown-up emotion, Annie. You need to open your eyes and start to notice other men.”

“I've done that. I almost married one. But there's no one like you, Liam. That just the way I feel.”

He looked even more troubled. “I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too. So what you're saying is, I'll have to look for another man.”

“I'm afraid so.”

I sighed. “Okay.”

I stayed awake a long time, with Liam sleeping quietly beside me.

You hero-worship me,
he had said. I suppose that was true, but that was only a small part of my feelings for him. Quite simply, I loved him. I always had; I always would. And he loved me, but not in the way that I wanted.

Could I change that?
I wondered.
What would happen if he thought he was losing me to another man?
And the perfect man was right at hand. Kevin was staying at Wellington for another week and I didn't think he'd object to a little flirtation.

I had had this idea before, but now I took it seriously.
I'll start tomorrow,
I thought.
Should I tell Kevin what I'm trying to do?

I don't think so. He might not want to go along with it. Kevin's ego would object to being used to make Liam jealous.

I had no fears that Kevin would be hurt by my using him this way. He was a superstar; he could have any woman he wanted. I doubted very much that he wanted me. But he wouldn't be averse to a flirtation, especially if the flirtation bothered Liam.

I'll start tomorrow,
I thought again as I settled myself to sleep. I glanced over to the far side of the bed and saw Liam's bare shoulder peeking from underneath the blanket he had pulled up over him.

/
love him so much. This is a rotten plan I have, to make him jealous, but I'm desperate. If I don't do something soon, he might marry someone else.

On that frightening note, I settled myself to go to sleep.

CHAPTER 10

L
iam and I went down to breakfast early because we were planning to drive back to Virginia. Unbelievably, there was a reporter in the restaurant waiting for us.

John Ford had warned us last night. “You don't just have a horse anymore, you have a Kentucky Derby winner. Life isn't going to be the same.”

“It won't bother me so much,” Liam had said. “I'm going back to my farm. You're the one who's going to be in the fishbowl.”

Now Liam answered the questions the reporter asked with great courtesy and then we went to our table and ordered breakfast.

“How long will Buster stay at Churchill Downs?” I asked.

“John said he'd keep him in Kentucky for a week and then send him to Maryland so he can have a couple of gallops over the Pimlico track.”

The waiter came with our coffee and I fell on mine. Once I had had a bracing drink, I asked, “Do you think the Preakness will be too short for him?” The Preakness was a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Derby. If the Derby had been the length of the Preakness, Buster would not have won.

“It's John's job to make sure that it's not,” Liam replied.

“Can you imagine if Buster won the Triple Crown?”

He shivered. “Don't say it out loud, Annie. It's too scary.”

“It would be crazy.”

The waitress came with our orders. I had French toast and Liam had scrambled eggs and bacon.

Liam said, “There's a five-million-dollar bonus to a horse that wins the Triple Crown. A few million dollars would go a long way if I have to get myself another farm.”

“Another farm? Surely it won't come to that.”

“I don't know, Annie. I don't like it that auditors are looking at the farm books out of season. There's nothing wrong with the books; I don't mean that. But the farm is part of Dad's assets. If he's really in over his head, it may have to be sold.”

I poured syrup over my French toast. “I don't think your father would ever sell the farm. It's his heritage!”

“He may have to; or he may just sell off all of the horses.”

“He owns Thunderhead, doesn't he?”

He lifted a forkful of eggs. “Unfortunately, yes. Thunderhead belongs to the farm, not to me.”

“Well, at least you'd have Buster. And Pennyroyal too.”

“I also own two of the other mares, My Holiday and Crescent Moon. I bought them both last year at the Keeneland auction. I own their foals as well.”

“Buster is already worth a lot of money, Liam. You can charge a huge stud fee for a Kentucky Derby winner.”

“I know, but I keep thinking about how much I could charge if he was a Triple Crown winner.”

We both were silent for a while as we contemplated this awesome possibility.

I said, “Even if the horses aren't sold, it might not be a bad idea for you to think of going out on your own.”

“I have been thinking of it; that's why I bought Pennyroyal and bred her to Thunderhead. I just hate to think of leaving Wellington, Annie. It's my heritage as well as Dad's.”

We finished eating in silence, then Liam said, “I just want to go over to the barn to see Buster before we leave.”

“Okay.”

We drove over to Churchill Downs and found a ring of reporters hanging around Buster's stall. “Hey there, fella,” Liam said and went up to the stall door.

Buster recognized his voice and came to the door. Liam scratched behind his ears and Buster moved his head so Liam could get to the good spots.

The press all wanted to know about Liam's plans for the Preakness.

“We'll see how he recovers from the Derby before we decide about the Preakness,” Liam said.

“What kind of a horse is he?” one of the reporters asked. “Is he friendly?”

“He's friendly with people he knows. He actually has a very pleasant temperament. He gets it from his mother.”

We stayed answering questions for about fifteen minutes and then we departed to make the drive back to Virginia.

There was a sign posted on Washington Avenue as we drove into Midville. It read
MIDVILLE, HOME OF KENTUCKY

DERBY WINNER SOMEDAY SOON
.

“Isn't that nice?” I said.

“Yes. I wonder whose idea that was.”

Liam drove me to my mother's new house and, as he was getting my suitcase out of the trunk, my mother came running out.

“You won!” She gave Liam a giant hug. “You did it! The whole town is bursting at the seams with pride.”

“We noticed the sign on the way in.”

“That was the Horse Council's idea.”

My mother gave me a hug too. “Pete would have been so proud of you, Liam. I'm sorry he isn't here to see this.”

“Who says he isn't here?” Liam said. “I can certainly feel him looking over my shoulder.”

Mom stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You're a good boy, Liam. You deserve this.”

“Thanks, Nancy,” Liam said softly.

He carried my suitcase inside for me and then he left to drive out to the farm.

“Well,” my mother said. “Tell me all about it.”

We settled down in the kitchen with a pot of tea and I filled her in on what had happened.

“I saw you on television,” Mom said. “You were wearing a hat.”

“Women wear hats to the Derby. I made Liam take me to a department store so I could get one. And it looks like I'm going to be stuck with it. Liam wants me to wear it to the Preakness. It could be a lucky charm, he says.”

My mother laughed.

“Did it look too silly?”

“Not at all. It looked charming.”

I looked at her suspiciously but her face was serious.

“There's been a break of sorts in the case since you left,” Mom said.

“A break? What happened?”

“Apparently Justin and Leslie had a fight the day before the party. Someone came forward who saw them shouting at each other, or at least, Justin was shouting.”

“Who saw them?”

“One of the Nathan daughters. She was only ten when she witnessed it and at the time she didn't comprehend the significance of what she saw. She came forward now because she's old enough to understand how important such information could be.”

“Did she overhear what they were saying?”

“No. But she said that Justin had his hands closed in fists.”

“So Liam wasn't the only one to have a fight with Leslie.”

“Apparently not. And no one actually saw any confrontation between Leslie and Liam. This evidence against Justin is more damning.”

I felt a pang of guilt, but not enough to allow me to give up the evidence that I was harboring.

“Did the police question Justin?”

“Yes. But he hasn't been charged.”

I took a sip of tea and thought about Justin. “He was such a hero in high school, Mom. I don't think adults can fully comprehend how awesome Justin was to us common mortals. He could have had any girl he wanted. It had to have been humiliating to see Leslie transfer her affections to Liam. And she did it so quickly. One week Leslie and Justin were a couple, and the next week they weren't.”

Mom poured herself a little more tea. “I don't know. It's hard to imagine anyone doing such a terrible thing because his ego was hurt.”

“It could have been more than his ego. Perhaps Justin truly loved her.”

“You don't kill the person you truly love.”

“Well then, maybe Justin didn't do it.”

Mom said, “But if Justin didn't do it, and Liam didn't do it, then who did?”

“Maybe it was a serial killer. You seem to read about one every time you open the newspaper these days.”

“I don't think the police are leaning that way,” Mom said.

“It's depressing. Here we had such a wonderful time at the Derby, and we come home to be faced with this again.”

The front doorbell rang. “I'll get it,” I said and went to open the door. Michael Bates was standing outside. He was in uniform.

“Good,” he said. “You're home.”

“Come on in. Mom and I are having tea. Would you care to join us?”

“Tea sounds wonderful.”

I brought Michael into the kitchen where he and Mom exchanged greetings. I got another mug out of the cabinet and poured him the last of the tea. I put the kettle on to make more.

“I know you're interested in the Bartholomew case,” Michael said to me. “I just came by to give you a heads-up. The
Washington Post
was on the line to us today. They were asking about Liam's connection to Leslie's murder.”

I felt my heart sink. “Oh no.”

“I'm sorry, Anne. I know you're close to Liam. But he's in the limelight now that he has a potential Triple Crown winner and someone evidently tipped the
Post
off about Leslie's body being found.”

“Did you tell them Liam is a suspect?” I asked through my teeth.

“We said he was one of several suspects.”

“Damn!” I was really upset.

Mom said, “Do you know who tipped the paper off?”

“No, Mrs. Foster. The paper wouldn't say.”

“When did this happen?”

“We got the call today. It should be in tomorrow's
Post.”

I said, “Does Liam know yet?”

“No, I just stopped by here on the off chance that you'd be back.”

“I'd better tell him.”

“It might be a good idea to prepare him.”

“Thanks, Michael, for stopping by.”

He pushed his chair back and stood up. “No problem. The whole town is so proud of Liam. It's a shame this had to happen at the same time.”

“I know.” I walked Michael to the door. He said, “How about dinner tomorrow night?”

I was going to say no, but then I thought I should keep my link to the investigation. “Sure,” I said.

“I'll pick you up at seven?”

“Great.”

Michael left and I went back to Mom.

“This is terrible,” I said.

“I know.”

“Do you have Liam's cell phone number, Mom?”

“Your father had it. Let me look in his phone book.”

The number was in the book but when I called it there was no answer. “I'm going to take a run up the house and see if I can find him,” I said.

“All right, honey.”

I pulled out of the driveway and took Washington Street through town and onto the main road until I got to Lewiston Road where I turned right and went to Wellington Road. Wellington was the third farm in and I turned into the driveway and parked in front of the house. It was the dinner hour and I knocked on the front door. No one answered, so I went around to the back patio and knocked on the kitchen door. Liam answered. He was sitting at the kitchen table eating a plate of what looked like stew.

“Annie! What are you doing here?”

“Are you by yourself?”

“Yes. Dad went back to Washington for a few days.”

“Where's Kevin?”

“I don't know. I haven't seen him since I got home.”

“I have some bad news, Liam. The
Washington Post
is going to print a story tomorrow about finding Leslie's body.”

His mouth tightened. “Shit.”

“I know. Michael Bates stopped by to tell me. I thought you should know so you can be prepared if the press comes calling.”

We had been standing at the door and now he said, “Come on in. Do you want some stew?”

I shook my head. I didn't want any food.

“Sit.” Liam gestured to the chair across from him. We both sat down.

“It'll make a great story,” Liam said bitterly. “Owner of Kentucky Derby winner is suspected of murder.”

“I know. What are you going to do?”

“Nothing. If the press shows up here I'll just say‘no comment’.”

“That's probably the best thing.”

“I certainly am not going to try to defend myself from a crime I didn't commit.”